MD, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and author of the New York Times bestseller Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton PRH 2021)

Brief bio: Anna Lembke, MD is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she is the author of more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications, has testified before the United States House of Representatives and Senate, has served as an expert witness in federal and state opioid litigation, and is an internationally recognized leader in addiction medicine treatment and education.In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. Her latest book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) was an instant New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

Title: “DOPAMINE NATION: A Neuroscience-Informed Approach to Compulsive Overconsumption in a Reward-Overloaded World”

Author of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Stanford Psychiatry Professor Anna Lembke decodes complex neuroscience into applicable strategies that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure can lead to pain. An expert in treating addictions of all kinds, Dr. Lembke discusses the biology and psychology of why people become addicted to certain substances and behaviors and the key role that our dopamine balance plays in creating addiction. Learn how conducting a dopamine fast can help curb our innate desire to overindulge, be it drugs, alcohol, food, work, the internet, or sex, and find contentment and connectedness by keeping our dopamine in check.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the neuroscience of pleasure and pain and what happens in the brain as we become addicted

2. Explain homeostasis and how repeated exposure to drugs of all kinds tilts the hedonic set-point to the side of pain

3. Identify dopamine fasting as a practical, feasible, and effective way to reset reward pathways

4. Review the science of hormesis: How intentionally engaging in pain/discomfort can improve mood and well-being